The attention should have lingered on those flashes of quality from Declan Rice and Saïd Benrahma. West Ham had settled a bitty contest with two fine goals and they had managed the game well during a testing second half, hiding their inexperience at this level by staying professional when a mediocre Rapid Vienna threatened to cancel out their slender lead.
Rice was a commanding presence in midfield, bursting forward to score the opening goal but never forgetting about his defensive responsibilities. Craig Dawson and Issa Diop were resilient in central defence and West Ham, who escaped when Rapid had a late penalty chalked off by VAR, knew that their position at the top of Group H was safe when Benrahma settled this unremarkable Europa League tie in added time.
